Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Bhartiya Janta Party, the erstwhile Bhartiya Jan Sangh has reached to its present position of being the Strongest Established National Opposition Party in India by a lot of Political Struggle, Party Discipline, Unity and its tradition of projecting One Voice & One Agenda. In October of 1951 the first All India convention of Bhartiya Jan Sangh was presided over by Shri Shyama Prasad Mukherjee to become the founder president of the BJS. In 1952 Parliamentary elections it won just 3 seats in the Parliament but went on to become the Strongest Established Opposition party of India. In 1977 the BJS merged with Janata Party but with the fall of the Janata party government in 1979, it separated itself and in 1980 it formed the present Bhartiya Janata Party.

Between 1996 & October 1999 it formed the government twice with Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the prime minister. In October 1999 BJP led NDA alliance won 303 seats. BJP on its own won an all time high of 198 seats in Loksabha and formed the government and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the prime minister for the 3rd time. It gave a very impressive and progressive government during the October1999 to May 2004. During this time it was proved beyond any doubt that BJP can be the Best alternative party to the Congress to provide a very Stable, Progressive and Durable coalition government at New Delhi.

With the phenomenal Growth & Development of the party in past 15 years many new dimensions are added to its style of Functioning and Political Leadership. The initial party leadership was more idealistic and was more devoted towards development of the party. With the passing time many new faces joined the party who were also motivated by Political Ambitions and Lust for Power. They brought with them the Glamour & the Democratic approach to the party and by virtue of their Modern Approach, Knowledge & Forward looking image they contributed a lot for the fast development of the party and made it more acceptable to the educated masses in India.

BJP went out of power in 2004 & subsequently in 2009 too it just slipped away from their hands, giving their leaders a feeling of frustration. The Power and Politics corrupts even the best of leaders. When these leaders go out of power their yearn for power & fame, remain as strong as ever and in order to attract the Lime Light and the focus back on them, they try to do something radical or very sensational. They chose some very controversial subjects and project their ideas about it through the press. If you are lucky it may be well received but if it is half cooked propaganda effort it may even boomerang on you. I am not sure whether Mr. Jaswant Singh had tried any such gimmick on purpose or it happened by chance, but he should have realized, that earlier Shri L K. Advani also had burnt his fingers and therefore there was no possibility of people accepting his thesis.

Any way in my opinion Mr. Jaswant Singh was a BJP stalwart and was one of the most popular and successful finance minister of India during the NDA regime. In my opinion his exit was very unceremonious and I believe it is in the interest of the BJP & even the nation not to lose such a capable hand. There could always be an amicable solution to any problem and in my opinion Mr. Singh should be allowed to express his regret in public in his own way and party should open its door back on him.

After many years India has found a very capable alternate party which can provide a stable government at New Delhi and the people of India would certainly not wish that it should disintegrate because of some trivial issues like party members writing letters to the leadership or expressing their concern about the party’s defeat. In my opinion BJP should now dilute its Hindutva agenda, also disassociate from RSS & claim its legitimate role as the best alternative party to provide a Stable & Progressive government. I believe congress is doing good as a government, but like any other matured democracy in the world a ruling party should have a strong opposition to keep it under check and certainly BJP can do this job very adequately. I am also of the opinion that Congress or BJP who ever is in the power should have 52% of the seats in Loksabha and rest 48 % should be with opposition so that like in Britain the ruling party in India is always under the pressure to perform well.

I think the BJP leadership will give it a thought and in the interest of the party and in the interest of the nation should take every one together and give a strong opposition to ruling party and prepare a case for it self to win the next election on its merits as equally competent party to rule country